Dr. Sherwood "Woody" Wirt brought Leif Skartland, Sr. onto the SDCWG board in the early 1990's, first as a general board member and then as treasurer. A couple of years after Woody retired Skartland turned the books over to the Gillespie's and resumed his duties as a general board member.

Skartland grew up in San Diego back when a kid could ride his bike from San Carlos to La Mesa without parental concern. He graduated from Christian High and spent a year in the mountains of No. California before returning to attend Grossmont Community College for two years. A diverse employment history from crop dusting to giving horseback rides, graphic artist to computer tech, slinging pizza to security details, high school music teacher to investment counselor, qualifies him as a "Jack of all Trades." Currently Skartland is on staff at Horizon Christian Fellowship, traveling with pastor Mike MacIntosh and overseeing transportation areas. He is also part of the HCF worship ministry.

Born and raised in a Christian environment, Skartland did not begin a godly life until the age of thirty. With a seriously troubled marriage and two young kids, he and his wife were invited to Horizon Christian Fellowship where they learned to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ through Bible reading, prayer, and ministry involvement. "Jesus changed a hopeless disaster into flourishing joy," Skartland said.

As an author, Skartland is currently working on a novel about how disregarding reality to validate your own beliefs will lead to ruin. "I don't consider myself a published author," he said. "Although I've done a strange assortment of writing from advertising to school materials." He is in training to receive his bus driver's certificate and in January will begin classes to finish his bachelor's degree in creative writing.

Skartland feels that the critique group is an integral part of the Guild. "Having been a critique group leader for a brief time and as a member, I realize the need for a sounding board to see if what I am trying to say is what other people are reading. It is an invaluable process." To increase the availability of critique groups to Guild members, he is currently developing an online critique group.

This month, he and his wife, Carla will celebrate their twenty-second wedding anniversary. They have two grown children. Leif II is twenty-one and a professional drummer touring with the Jeremy Camp Band. Their daughter, Danielle, attends Mesa College and is a singer in the worship band, Like Minded, who will release a CD project early next year.